Mobile virtualization

Abstract

The present invention provides a virtualization system at least comprising a first device (101) having a first operating system (202) and a first display screen. The virtualization system also at least comprises a second display screen (105), which is separate from the first device, but which is connectable to the first device (101), for example by cable (104a) or wireless (104b) connection. The first device has a virtualization application (103) operable as a guest operating system (203) of the first operating system (202) acting as a host operating system. The guest operating system (203) is a desktop operating system or a desktop-optimized operating system. The virtualization application (103) is launched upon connection of the second display screen (105) to the first device (101) for display of the guest operating system (203) on the second display screen (105). The system may optionally further comprise one or more peripheral components, such as a keyboard (106) and / or a mouse (107), for example. The system can determine whether to mirror the screen contents of the first device (101) on the second display screen (105) or whether to display the guest operating system (203) on the second display screen (105), according to a predetermined condition, for example according to whether such peripheries are connected. The present invention also provides a corresponding method of virtualizing a desktop operating system or a desktop-optimized operating system on a first device (101), such as a mobile device, for display on a second display screen (105), such as a monitor or TV screen.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application is a U.S. national phase of International Application No. PCT / EP2016 / 073895, filed Oct. 6, 2016, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablet computers, now have enough computational power to be able to replicate basic desktop computer functionalities. It is known to connect a mobile device, such as a smart phone or tablet computer, to a second display screen, such as a monitor or a TV screen, via a wireless or cable connection, for example. This is generally done for screen mirroring, so that a user can enlarge the display area of the mobile device by use of such an additional screen. However, screen mirroring is generally not targeted at desktop computer replacement. Other than screen mirroring, mobile virtualization or creating a secondary desktop-compatible screen and compatible applications are recent approaches which have be...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008]Preferably, the first device is a mobile device and the first operating system is a mobile operating system. Since, in general, mobile devices have multiple screen support, this has the advantage of allowing for display of the guest operating system on the second display screen when the second display screen is connected to the first device, without loss of screen content from the first display screen of the mobile device. Preferably, the second display screen is a computer monitor or a TV screen.

[0009]It is preferable that the first device comprises a memory storing a snapshot of the guest operating system and that the virtualization application is launched using the snapshot of the guest operating system stored in the memory of the first device. This has the advantage of allowing for instantaneous, or near-instantaneous, launch of the virtualization application.

[0011]It is preferable that the system can mirror an image displayed on the first display screen on the second display screen, and is switchable between such screen mirroring and display of the guest operating system on the second display screen. This has the advantage of allowing a user to use for system for screen mirroring, as well as for desktop virtualization, depending upon user requirements.

[0012]If so, a condition for said switching is predetermined. For example, the predetermined condition may at least comprise switching to screen mirroring if video is displayed on the first display screen. Alternatively or additionally, the system may further comprise at least one other peripheral component, such as a keyboard and / or a mouse, and the predetermined condition may at least comprise switching to display of the guest operating system on the second display screen if the at least one other peripheral component is connected to the system. This has the advantage of allowing the system to automatically detect when desktop virtualization may be preferred to screen mirroring.

Problems solved by technology

However, screen mirroring is generally not targeted at desktop computer replacement.

However, some critical problems are foreseen for such mobile virtualization.

Firstly, it is not easy to start a hypervisor (also known as a virtual machine monitor, or VMM) for virtualization in a mobile device and send it to a secondary display screen, whilst keeping a first display screen of the mobile device alive for running mobile applications and so that a host operating system of the mobile device is still working.

Furthermore, there is no efficient way for the guest operating system and hypervisor to be launched.

Manual switching between these two different modes of operation is possible, but is time-consuming and needs extra operation by the user.

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